what an afternoon

We have just returned from the children's service at the 15th-century St. James Cathedral. The church was so beautiful, the organ played BIG music (meaning loud, which I love), and the service was lovely with all the traditional Christmas carols sung. The village children assumed the roles of sheep, the donkey, shepherds, angels, and wise people (as the rector pointed out, not "wise men" because they had some girls). They even used a real baby. There were at least 40 children in this production so there was a lot of movement and noise and funny "bloopers".

The highlight of the service for us was the Christingle portion of the service. I've never heard of this tradition but it was started by the Moravians in the mid-1700's. The rector called all the children up (and of course, our young shy Mac went forward as soon as he saw the first child go forward) to receive their Christingle, which is an orange that's had an X cut in the top. A candle is inserted into the X, a red ribbon is tied around the orange and toothpicks with gummies are stuck around the orange. According to the song we sang after the children had received their lighted Christingles, here's the symbolism:

the orange - the earth as created by God
the red ribbon - bloodshed and pain which led to forgiveness when Jesus was slain
ripe fruits (or gummies in this case)- when God hands out the gift of His creation, it's meant for us all
candle - the light of the world, Jesus

It was a lovely and meaningful service and I'm so glad we went.

On our walk back home, I stopped to take a photo of this beautiful house that was decked out with wreaths and trees and lights. Well this older woman stopped and said something about it being a lovely home and wouldn't I love to go inside. I got excited for a minute that she owned it and that we were getting ready to be invited in for the family dinner. But alas, she wasn't the owner.

Anyway we talked for a few minutes and as we were wishing her a happy Christmas, she told me I was "life-enhancing" (her words, not mine), had a positive outlook and a warm smile. Do you think she recognized me as royalty?

We're re-grouping now before we go to our Christmas Eve dinner at the Eight Bells Inn (so named because they stored the bells for St. James Cathedral in the inn at the time of construction).

We hope that wherever you are and with whomever you're celebrating this special holiday, you feel the love and joy and promise that is Christmas. Merry Christmas from us to you.